Pc repair is it worth it?????

ThomasITguy

Greetings!

I have been giving this a lot of thought for about 3 years now. I have seen small PC repair shops open, and then close. I have also thought about starting my own small PC repair business but focusing on remote support, and troubleshooting. My friends and family all come to me when they need support and I have fixed a lot of their issues in the past. I'm thinking about giving it a try and seeing how it goes.

Do any of you have computer businesses on the side or can offer any advice?

Thanks!

636-555-3226

My two cents - don't expect a lot of money. Do it for fun, as a hobby, or as a little side business out of your garage to supplement your regular full time job. Think about all the shops you saw open & close and ask yourself how you're going to do it differently to avoid the same fate. Can you even do it differently? Bounce questions off of us here & we'll always give you our thoughts!

ThomasITguy

Well for starters I plan on doing a lot of remote support and troubleshooting. I am also aiming to do it as a side job and not just focus on the PC Repair aspect of the job but more on the service and troubleshooting side. One thing I noticed is that most of the shops in my area focus on the customer coming to them... they repair the machine, and then thats how they generate business... My plan is to give the customer the convience of staying at home and me providing a service to them remotely... if it is something that I have to see I can do it remotely with the customer on the phone with me... then they can bring their PC in and I can service it either at my space, or at their home.

What sets me a part is customer convenience... I come to you, vs you come to me. I feel that is what a lot of places even Best Buy Geek Squad does not do is remote tech support.

I also want to eventually branch off into contracting and servicing different clients but that is for the future.

Node Man

I would do it for fun on the side. I know people that do it on the side and like it. Without a corporate customer, work can get very sparse. PC repair in general is on the decline. You may end up trying to repair peoples tablets and cell phones. As an example, people don't even get cars fixed anymore, at least not like they used too.

ThomasITguy

I see what you are saying. My goal is to have my own business in the IT Industry. start off with repair and then build from that. What would you or anyone else suggest?

Node Man,

I def want to have a successful business in the IT Industry. But PC repair and hoping to get a corporate client is the only way I know how to do that. I know everyone starts off with PC repair or troubleshooting, but other then that I have to read up on what other angle to start from.

Node Man

The most successful independent guy I know (he has since fallen), had a IT business focusing on small businesses: doctors offices, automobile garages, pizza shops. It was good business when everywhere was converting to voip phones. Prior he mostly resold T1 lines. The recession of 2007 destroyed his client base.

ThomasITguy

What about starting with PC Repair and getting business on the side until I can get a corporate client...? Then going from there. My goal is to get a corporate client but I have to research more on how to acquire one.
Focusing on small businesses would pay off providing they do not already have a corporate or client already.

tpatt100

You could start with PC repair on the side with the mid to long term goal of learning how to run your own business. Things like taxes, accounting, sales, etc.

jahaziel

What you basically want to do is become an MSP.

PC repair doesn't pay off since computers are so cheap and home owners are generally cheap to begin with. You want to be in the business of prevention and being proactive instead of being reactive.

Santa_

I feel the need to contribute my experience from the past with the hopes to give you a better direction or at least a sense of things.

Someone mentioned that PC repair is sparse, especially these days. Consumers (not all) are normally not willing to pay the price you have listed at full for PC repair. Computers are inexpensive that they rather just spend the extra $ on a new machine. Sure Geek Squad, Easy Tech and the likes attain the majority of pc repairs across the states, but they are recognized businesses and their marketing exposure allows them to acquire such a customer base.

Starting a pc repair shop, let alone any small business takes time to acquire a customer base. Yes you can offer remote support, but so can the next repair shop down the road. Can you afford undercutting the competitor's prices to try to gain customers?

I believe that word of mouth goes a long way. You mentioned how you've helped others - this is where you want want to focus some attention on. How many more new customers can you get just by asking them to recommend others to you? I'm sure at least 1 per person.

From what I read and your interest for future goals, keep in mind that it is best to setup your business the proper way. That means setting up and establishing a business name, generating a business permit with a local office (ex. town hall), creating a business tax ID and other various things (ex. terms and conditions).

With your future in mind I would say try getting local businesses a call or even show up in person with some type of flyer/brochure offering your services. Aside from just the repairs...offer support service plans. Maybe become the designated IT guy for that business...which eventually leads you you managing the infrastructure. Soon becoming a small managed service provider.

You'll learn that you will get asked certain favors. I've been asked for discounted prices or if the work can be done for a price the customer wants. I'd be out of business at a much earlier rate if I allowed this and so would you. P.S. I've closed my business and focused on my primary job as my main income.

johnnyarks

don't do it.

Cerebro 2.0

Sure why not? It shows passion and will build your experience.

Kinet1c

Another vote for don't do it. I think your time would be better spent working towards (studying for certs or learning new tech) furthering your existing career. PC repairs or MSPs are in a race to the bottom when competing on price and often thankless work.

TheFORCE

Let me ask you a question. what will you do when you cannot remotely support your client? Will you give up on the client or the issue or will you go to the clients house? Lets assume you go to the clients office/house, what will you do when you discover that some usb ports do not function, the graphics card does not function or the NIC does not function or even if the power supply does not function? Will you then charge your client for the visit? Will you explain the issue to them and say that now they have to spend the money to buy a part that they have no idea what it is? Or will you buy all the problem parts for them and then charge them the fees for the part plus the fees for your service? That will cost probably in the area of over $150-$200. do you think your client can afford that when they can get a brand new machine for $350?

It was not one questions, but this things will happen and are things that you will have to think and decide in advance how you will handle and not just go at it with no plan. It's a different think to say i want to create my own IT business and it's a different think to plan it all out. Not to mention all the investment you have to make on advertising and all the time you will spend on trying to generate business. Time is the most important think to consider.

Plantwiz

If you have to start to enter a client's home, then to suck the living fun out of everything, consider being bonded and carrying insurance for all the 'what ifs, and when it happens' problems.
- you trip and fall
- you drive over 'x'
- you break 'x'
- you short out their 'x'
- etc..

There are always risks and most folks do not consider them, but for a single business owner, getting bogged down with insurance 'protection' usually destroys any profit you might see. Then again, not carrying insurance will destroy everything you ever had and everything you hope to have, depending on the damages and, of course, attorneys involved.


It is possible to do the work, but do it because you LOVE it, not because you expect to get rich. You will find it is a labor of love and then you will run into that one customer who will make you regret ever taking in a box from someone you did not know beforehand. Most of the time, there is not a problem. Our disposable society will have people questioning the amount you need to charge for the service, verse them trashing their old box and starting over. I believe theForce said the same.

636-555-3226

Everybody's being a Debbie Downer so I'll just throw a perk out there - you never know if you'll get the lonely housewife who is suffering from pool boy syndrome but there isn't a pool boy around

TheFORCE

Removed unnecessary quoted reply

Lol I don't think we are downers or discouraging him, I think we are giving him information about the things he hasn't considered yet.

I used to work for one of the largest MSP's in the country. Everything I mentioned did happen to me. I had to go back to the office or order new parts because the issue was not troubleshooted correctly , but the company was covering everything.

By the way the situation you mentioned did happen to me also. I went to a house and a girl answered the door wearing a robe. After that she went in the shower and I was working on the pc taking my time lol.When she got out, wearing the robe she looked at me working, went to her room, got dressed and got out again. Nothing happen, and I left thinking what if. Has it happen to others? Sure. Does it happen often, probably not.

Kore

Removed unnecessary quoted reply

Lol, I think that was your golden opportunity. I have had the pleasure of such an opportunistic situation.

NOC-Ninja

i know a guy at my work who does this. he said he makes extra 25k-30k a year. he has to drive everywhere on the weekends. its rough.

scaredoftests

@=TheFORCE
Almost thought you'd turn it into a 'penthouse forum' thread. LOL

thenjduke

Removed unnecessary quoted reply

I was at last a good story . It just went downhill. :P

ThomasITguy

So since PC repair is not worth it....

What else can I do as a side business for myself???

I know developing is cool and I want to learn that to be able to develop apps and other things. Honestly I had a service tech job before I got into the role I had now and I hated it. Not because of the role but because I had to drive everywhere and most of the stuff I had to repair was printers and copiers. There was only a few calls where I got to work on servers.... that was replacing a hard drive or replacing a whole server motherboard. I think I need to go back to the drawing board on what I want a small business to be. Because PC repair is not worth it... too much to loose and not enough to gain.

Plantwiz

Well, the 'worth it' part is up to you. Personally, I've done it, and simply would not do it for full-time income. If one looks around, there are fewer and fewer 'shops' than there were back in the 90s, and the reasons vary, but the equipment works 'better' for the most part. End users do not outgrow their PCs as quickly (but then again when one can start with 12GB of RAM out the door) and it is less common for folks to not start with sound cards/modems/print cards etc... because almost everything needed is soldered on the board and the peripherals use USB or are wireless...little need for box upgrades these days.

Antivirus was the 'big' thing in the 2000s, but again, these days the OSs, the ISPs, and more end users are savvy and include some type of AV natively, good - bad- otherwise, but you'll have fewer virus removal needs, and the ones you will have are labor intensive.

So, all that aside, if you still want to pursue it, go for it, there is more labor involved per device than there once was (when you could bench four or five devices and switch between them in a shift), and the end-users (from my experience) want things fixed more quickly than it is possible to return. So if you can fix on site, they'll hover. If you take it to the shop, they'll call you every hour.

So, how are you for teaching? Offer skills classes through community education or such?

ThomasITguy

@=Plantwiz

I am pretty good at teaching. At my last job I was a teacher for new hires and taught them the ropes of the help desk, I taught them basic troubleshooting and security techniques. I actually love to teach others things, because it forces me to always be on top of knowledge. I also taught end users the basics of phones, tablets, laptops, and desktops. So I have about a year of experience teaching.

Plantwiz

Then, I'd recommend looking into some video conferencing, community ed, and if you have the credentials, local CC or such to keep yourself busy and current. Teaching allows you to share the love you have with tech/tech repair & upgrade while making a little pocket money.

Short of doing screen repairs on handhelds, the need for full on PC repair has dramatically slowed over the past two decades. This would still allow you to do some custom builds if the urge hit you, but the return on investment has dropped drastically (again in the past two decades) that if one desires to earn an income with PC stuff, service is where you will do it...and it requires fantastic people skills.

If that's you, I'd recommend looking into that route.

YMMV

sthomas

I have been doing computer repair and IT consulting on the side along with my full time job for the last 15 years or so. It is a good way to make extra money but it would be hard to make a living off of it alone unless you mostly do work for businesses.

I disagree with those that say there is no demand for such work. I still see a decent demand but most of the repair work now is software related on laptops. The customers that I do repair work for range from the age of 20 to 80.

It can be stressful depending on your customer base and word of mouth can make a big difference here. If I was starting out now I would just focus on small businesses and pick and choose my personal customers.

SteveLord

Count me in with the NO camp.


I do work on the side for coworkers for extra cash once in a while, but that's the extent of it.

TechGromit

jahaziel wrote: »

PC repair doesn't pay off since computers are so cheap and home owners are generally cheap to begin with.

I concur, if I offered to fix people's PC from work I'd have them lined up outside my cube and down the hall. If I charged for my services, nothing but crickets. The simple fact is pretty much everyone knows some relative that knows something about computers. Often people would rather go out and buy a new computer then fix something as simple as a failed HD. I used to buy components and build my own custom computers for my use, but I don't even bother anymore, they are so cheap, it's a lot less hassle to just order it online and let someone else build it.

thenjduke

I would say go for it but make sure it is side business. This is not the 90s anymore where you can charge arm and leg to fix someone PC. I miss those days has I would make a nice little nest back in the 90s. I don't even bother with fixing the PC components anymore so dam cheap just to rip and replace.

Mike R

I have a good amount of small business knowledge after owning/managing two. I can tell you first hand that to make something your sole source of income will add a huge amount of stress into your life. What everyone in the no camp has said is dead on accurate. One thing to keep in mind is from the financial side you will be paying all the Soc Sec taxes, health insurance, and retirement. Also in the world today your not going to find a lot of loyalty, people most of the time are going to go to whoever is cheapest. All of a sudden your competitors will start preying on your customers.

ThomasITguy

So after reading all of the replies and thinking about a IT Business... since the majority with experience says NOT to do PC repair. What are good areas in IT that I can do for a small side business that will eventually grow into a bigger business????



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